With the four year pandemic-imposed gap since the previous edition in 2018, today’s restoration of the biennial SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race from Wicklow has been attracting an unprecedented amount of countdown attention and discussion. There has been an across-the-board shooting of the breeze on just about every possible aspect of this great race.

But good people, do please be careful. There has been so much shooting of the breeze that we may have managed to kill it stone dead. Or at least we’ve wounded it so much that although today’s start off the Wicklow pierheads may get away at 1.0pm with a fair wind of sorts – and a generous ebb tide to sweep the fleet into the wide blue yonder and welcome invisibility beyond Wicklow Head – by the time they’re off the Wexford coast, there might be local calms.

This could introduce some crews to the many delights of kedging to simply stay in the one place when the tide turns foul. Kedging is such fun, particularly if you’re in deep water and have to use every bit of line in the boat to get the necessary length for putting the anchor on the seabed. And some anchors need more line than others. In our own mad-keen offshore racing days, we carried a fancy bit of kit called a Fortress anchor, a sort of Danforth with enormous seabed-gripping wings.

But it was made of aluminium, for we were weight-obsessed. So when you chucked the Fortress over the bow as the boat started to make negative SOG, the Fortress weaved elegantly about like a cruising manta ray, and took its own leisurely time before finally digging in somewhere in the inky depths and eventually stopping the sternward progress.

It now seems like a lifetime ago. Tracks recorded in the last Round Ireland in 2018 – it’s possible this year’s race will also have windward work along the west coast.

It’s an exercise which needs a complete mental re-set when you’ve headed off to do some offshore race in anticipation of rugged sailing, and instead find yourself gliding along with everyone in tip-toe movement style. In these circumstances when tide is not a factor, there is only one item of Holy Writ. Never Lose Steerage Way. Have someone aloft if needs be to search out every little ruffle of wind, and if necessary be prepared to re-trace your steps in order to stay in a usable zephyr. But if you lose steerage way it takes so long to get going again - even when a faint air does arrives - that you’re rather more thoroughly stuffed than a Christmas turkey. And please don’t ask how you do this wind-chasing at night……..

Round Ireland Line Honours and CT Winners since 1980.

POSSIBLY WINDLESS MONDAY

Looking beyond this (Saturday) afternoon’s expectations, although the wind will struggle on from various directions through Sunday, by Monday it may be gasping to survive in any significant strength all round the Irish coast, It will be difficult to imagine good strong wind sailing, yet right now (Saturday morning) the 200-strong fleet in the biennial Newport-Bermuda Race on the other side of the Atlantic have all the wind they want, while up in Iceland the Vendee Arctique fleet racing round Iceland have been told to take a break, as winds of 50 knots-plus are blowing off the north coast, and being dense Arctic air, that’s extremely intense boat-damaging pressure.

Yet down here off Ireland and in adjacent waters, the breezes are thin, with the two leader in the RWYC Round Britain and Ireland Race (they were in Galway a fortnight ago) struggling to finish in Plymouth by lunchtime today – they’re Andy Fennell’s 39ft Shuttleworth tri Morpheus and Simon Baker’s Dazcat 46 Hissy Fit.

SOME EXTRA FOOD?

However, at least they’re looking at the finish of their race, even if the tail-enders in this eccentric three-stopovers event are still in Scottish waters. But the boats making the final adjustments this morning for the round Ireland will be thinking of time to the finish, and wondering if a bit of extra food might be a good idea.

The new First 50 Checkmate XX (Nigel Biggs & Dave Cullen) racing at Wave Regatta in a good breeze earlier this month. It’s a moot point if the Round Ireland fleet will experience wind of this strength in the 2022 race. Checkmate XX was withdrawn on the eve of the Wicklow race due to a positive COVID test  Photo: Annraoi Blaney

It looks as though 44-47 boats will come to the line, as the global travel chaos appears to have spread to the yacht delivery ships criss-crossing the Atlantic. This has banjaxed the chances of an appearance by Adrian Lee’s Swan 60 Lee Overlay Partners, whose normally trouble-free Transatlantic transportation has run late.

Round Ireland Yacht Race 2022 Entries 

1. More Mischief, entered by: Grzegorz Kalinecki, boat type: First 310, Length 9.15, Club: ISA
2. Cavatina Ian Hickey Granada 38 11.60, Royal Cork Yacht Club
3. Aurelia Chris Power Smith, J122, 12.20 RSGYC/RORC
4. Prime Suspect Keith Miller Mills 36 10.97 Kilmore Quay BC
5. Mojo Kieron Blamey J105 10.51 Isle of Man Yacht Club
6. Blue Oyster Noel Coleman Oyster 37 11.30 Royal Cork Yacht Club
7.  Hiro Maru Hiroshi Nakajima Sparkman & Stephens 15.05 Stamford Yacht Club
8. Finally Paul Kitteringham Elan 350 10.50 Pwllheli Sailing Club
9. Influence Andrea Fornaro VPLP Class 40 12.40
10. SL ENERGIES Groupe FASTWAVE Laurent Charmy JBOAT J111 11.15
11. Green Dragon Enda O’Coineen / Conor Ferguson VOR70 21.50 Galway Bay Sailing Club / Royal Irish Yacht Club
12. Samatom Robert Rendell GS44R 14.90 Howth YC
13. Peregrine Jasper Golyer Pogo Class 40 12.10 MYC
14. Pyxis Kirsteen Donaldson X332 10.06 RORC
15. Arthur Jim Bennett Beneteau First 40 12.24 RORC
16. Sherkin Irish Offshore Sailing David Hanks Sunfast 37 11.40 RIYC Dun Laoghaire
17. Indian Simon Knowles J109 10.9 Howth YC
18. YOYO Graham Curran Sunfast 3600 10.75 Royal St. George
19. Rockabill VI Paul O’Higgins JPK 10.80 10.84 Royal Irish Yacht Club
20. State O Chassis Mike Murphy Sigma 38 11.55 Royal Irish Yacht Club
21. Artful DodJer Finbarr O’Regan J Boats 10.75 Kinsale Yacht Club
22. Ca Va Tony Rayer Pogo 12.50 12.19 Cardiff Bay Yacht Club
23. Wild Pilgrim Daniel Jones Sunfast 3300 9.99 RORC
24. Telefonica Black Lance Shepherd Volvo 70 21.50 RORC
25. Shindig A. Kingston Swan 40 S&S 12.80 Kinsale
26. Black Magic Barry O Donovan Beneteau 13.65 Waterford Harbour Sailing Club/Howth Yacht Club
27. Nieulargo Denis&Annamarie Murphy Grand Soleil 40 B+C 12.12 Royal Cork Yacht Club
28. Cinnamon Girl Cian Mc Carthy Sunfast 3300 9.99 Kinsale Yacht Club
29. L’ESPRIT D’EQUIPE Lionel Regnier Briand 17.60 Les Sables D’Olonne
30. Fuji Ari Känsäkoski OCD40 12.19 RORC/Port Chantereyne Cherbourg
31. Lynx Wild West Sailing Cian Mulee Reflex38 11.52 SYC
32. Fujitsu Donal Ryan Sunfast 3600 10.80 RORC 
33. Snapshot Michael and Richard Evans J99 9.94 HYC
34. Asgard Ross Farrow Sunfast 3300 9.99 Hamble
35. KUKA3 Franco Niggeler Cookson 15.20 St. Moritz Sailing Club
36. Luzern eComm U25 Lorcan Tighe Figaro 3 10.89 RIYC
37. Jezebel Cris Miles J111 11.0 Conwy
38. InoXXX James Neville HH42 12.60 RORC
39. Bellino Rob Craigie Sunfast 3600 10.80 RORC, Hamble
40. Darkwood Michael Boyd J121 12.19 Royal Irish Yacht Club
41. Kite Greg Leonard 12.00 RORC
42. Jackknife Andrew Hall Rod Johnstone 12.50
43. Pen Duick VI Marie TABARLY André Mauric 22.25 Lorient
44. Bijou Ian Morton Pogo 30 9.15 Port Bannatyne

That’s the trouble with the modern world. It’s too rigidly set in pre-ordained schedules. Things were a bit more rough and ready in the old days. Back in 1977, Otto Glaser of Howth changed from his McGruer 47 Tritsch-Tratsch II to the Frers 47 Red Rock, which happened to be in Argentina. Not to worry. He arranged her Transatlantic shipment from Buenos Aires as deck cargo on a general freight ship. But then a marathon dock strike in England meant that Red Rock would stay on the ship. Not to worry. Otto got onto the ship’s captain, persuaded him to divert into the Solent, then further persuaded him to activate his ancient derricks to offload Red Rock – cradle and all – off Cowes, where she was taken in tow by Groves & Guttridge’s yard launch and towed slowly into their marina where the whole lot was lifted out again, the mast was stepped, and racing started almost immediately, leading in time to the highlight of Red Rick being the best-placed Irish boat in the Fastnet Race.

KEY CREW PEOPLE MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER

One can’t see that being done nowadays, ’Ealf ’n Safety would have a fit, so boats miss races. But of the fleet still remaining in the Round Ireland race, perhaps all bets are off, for despite the popularity of recent prediction here by Maritime Mystic Meg, the weather pattern is just all over the place, and it’s going to be the crews as much as the boats which have the stamina to see this thing through to individual success.

Lorcan Tighe of Dun Laoghaire, Afloat.ie “Sailor of the Month” for September 2017, will be the youngest skipper in the 2022 Round Ireland Race.

This puts further pressure in young Lorcan Tighe, our Sailor of the Month in September 2017 after the Irish National Sailing School’s J/109 had returned from the Fastnet Race garlanded with awards. The youngest skipper in the Round Ireland, Lorcan is racing the Figaro 3 Lucern. This seems to be the only boat in the race with foils, which in light weather is a very mixed blessing, but it’s the youth factor which gives the extra interest here.

Another factor is previous success, and who is sailing where. Back in 2014, the overall winner was the Scottish-owned Sydney 36 Tanit, with Richie Fearon of Lough Swilly as navigator. Despite having flu to such an extent that he was of his head with anti-biotics throughout the race, Richie persuaded his shipmates to hold to the middle of the Irish Sea in the final stage, and Tanit emerged from the leading bunch to win overall.

Those formidable Fearon talents are being transferred aboard Robert Rendell’s already talent-laden Grand Soleil 44 Samatom (HYC) today (with four-time Olympian Mark Mansfield onboard), and the longer the race in terms of time, the more important they become.

The strong Howth contingent also sees Shane Hughes of North Sails shipping aboard Mike Evans’ notably potent J/99 Snapshot, while his work colleague Maurice the Prof O’Connell is with the Sunfast 3600 YoYo (Brendan Coghlan RStGYC) with Graham Curran.

In times past in a slow race with calms, it was always reckoned that the lowest-rated boats would come out tops. But these days while the heftier boats do indeed come a stop in what seems like total calm, there’s a new generation of ultra-slippy boats which seems to generate their own private breeze, and the Fast 40+ class based in Cowes have showing the way.

What’s to stop her? The HH 42 is designed and built for speed and racing success.

RORC Commodore James Neville with his Judel-Vrolik HH42 InoXXX (it sounds like a decidedly rough real ale best consumed with a dash of lime) has been successfully pushing the offshore boundaries with this. And when we look at the total package, there seems every likelihood that InoXXX has what it takes to win. The profile is remarkable, while she has one of those extraordinarily effective hulls which lose about half their wetted area just by being heeled 15 degrees.

So all the logic points to InoXXX success. But this is Ireland. Logic is not necessarily our strong suit. So if anyone happens to beat InoXXX overall in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2022, it will be a mighty victory.

(Above and below) Wicklow Harbour will be the focal point of sailing in Ireland today

Competitors berthed in Wicklow on the eve of the 21st race Photo: Bob Bateman

They’d seven entries in the first Fastnet Race of 1925, and seven entries started yesterday morning in the inaugural 240-mile Kinsale YC Inishtearacht Race - there and back from Kinsale, round the only lighthouse island of Ireland’s furthest west Blasket Islands group.

Meanwhile, it’s now just four weeks to the start of Wicklow SC’s biennial 704-mile SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race, which began in 1980 with 16 entries, and at its most numerous has pushed over the 60 mark. But with the 2020 staging eventually cancelled in the face of the pandemic, it has been anyone’s guess as to how many would make the call for 2022’s resumption on June 18th, as the world in general and Europe in particular are still very far from normal.

To take part in the Round Ireland, the usual strong international component in the final lineup have to make a time and distance commitment which is more challenging than that required for the centrally-located Fastnet Race which - conveniently for Europe’s main centres of population – begins and ends in the English Channel, thus the new finish at Cherbourg is within a day’s drive of affluent European populations running into the hundreds of millions.

The veteran Pen Duick VI’s first visit to Ireland was in 1974, when she won the RORC Cowes-Cork Race

FORTY-SEVEN ENTRIES AND COUNTING

So the thinking for the Round Ireland was that they’d do well to top the 40 mark on the day, but the news from Wicklow is good. They’ve 47 boats signed up with a quality international contingent in the healthy mix, and WSC Commodore Kyran O’Grady reports that others are hovering in the background, with the strong possibility that Eric Tabarly’s famous 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI – now campaigned by the late great skipper’s daughter Marie – will be there with other extras on the day, as interest in Class40 is also continuing to build.

ROUND IRELAND ENTRIES @ 19-05-22

1. More Mischief Grzegorz Kalinecki First 310 9.15 ISA  
2. Cavatina Ian Hickey Granada 38 11.60 Royal Cork Yacht Club  
3. Aurelia Chris Power Smith J122 12.20 RSGYC RORC  
4. Prime Suspect Keith Miller Mills 36 10.97 Kilmore Quay BC  
5. Mojo Kieron Blamey J105 10.51 Isle of Man Yacht Club  
6. Elantic Clarke Allen Elan 40 11.90 Arklow Sailing Club  
7. Blue Oyster Noel Coleman Oyster 37 11.30 Royal Cork Yacht Club  
8. Hiro Maru Hiroshi Nakajima Sparkman & Stephens 15.05 Stamford Yacht Club  
9. Finally Paul Kitteringham Elan 350 10.50 Pwllheli Sailing Club  
10. Influence Andrea Fornaro VPLP Class 40 12.40    
11. SL ENERGIES Groupe FASTWAVE Laurent Charmy JBOAT J111 11.15    
12. Green Dragon Enda O’Coineen / Conor Ferguson VOR70 21.50 Galway Bay Sailing Club / Royal Irish Yacht Club  
13. Samatom Robert Rendell GS44R 14.90 Howth YC  
14. Moshimoshi Sebastien Saulnier SUNFAST 3300 9.99 SNBSM  
15. Peregrine Jasper Golyer Pogo Class 40 12.10 MYC  
16. Pyxis Kirsteen Donaldson X332 10.06 RORC  
17. Arthur Jim Bennett Beneteau First 40 12.24 RORC  
18. Sherkin Irish Offshore Sailing David Hanks Sunfast 37 11.40 RIYC Dun Laoghaire  
19. Indian Simon Knowles J109 10.9 Howth YC  
20. YOYO Graham Curran Sunfast 3600 10.75 Royal St. George  
21. Rockabill VI Paul O’Higgins JPK 10.80 10.84 Royal Irish Yacht Club  
22. State O Chassis Mike Murphy Sigma 38 11.55 Royal Irish Yacht Club  
23. Artful DodJer Finbarr O’Regan J Boats 10.75 Kinsale Yacht Club  
24. Ca Va Tony Rayer Pogo 12.50 12.19 Cardiff Bay Yacht Club  
25. Telefonica Black Lance Shepherd Volvo 70 21.50 RORC  
26. Shindig A. Kingston Swan 40 S&S 12.80 Kinsale  
27. Black Magic Barry O Donovan Beneteau 13.65 Waterford Harbour Sailing Club/Howth Yacht Club  
28. Nieulargo Denis&Annamarie Murphy Grand Soleil 40 B+C 12.12 Royal Cork Yacht Club  
29. Checkmate XX Nigel Biggs and David Cullen First 50 14.98 Howth Yacht Club  
30. Big Deal Derek Dillon Grand Soleil 37 BC 11.30 Foynes yacht Club  
31. Cinnamon Girl Cian Mc Carthy Sunfast 3300 9.99 Kinsale Yacht Club  
32. L’ESPRIT D’EQUIPE Lionel Regnier Briand 17.60 Les Sables D’Olonne  
33. Fuji Ari Känsäkoski OCD40 12.19 RORC/Port Chantereyne Cherbourg  
34. Lynx Wild West Sailing Cian Mulee Reflex38 11.52 SYC  
35. Fujitsu Donal Ryan Sunfast 3600 10.80 RORC  
36. LeeOverlay Partners II Adrian Lee Swan 18.85 RORC /Rstgyc  
37. Phosphorus II Mark Emerson Archambault A13 13.10 RORC RSgYC  
38. Snapshot Michael and Richard Evans J99 9.94 HYC  
39. Asgard Ross Farrow Sunfast 3300 9.99 Hamble  
40. KUKA3 Franco Niggeler Cookson 15.20 St. Moritz Sailing Club  
41. Luzern eComm U25 Lorcan Tighe Figaro 3 10.89 RIYC  
42. Jezebel Cris Miles J111 11.0 Conwy  
43. Teasing Machine Eric De Turkheim JNYD 16.5 RORC/CNAR  
44. InoXXX James Neville HH42 12.60 RORC  
45. Bellino Rob Craigie Sunfast 3600 10.80 RORC, Hamble  
46. Darkwood Michael Boyd J121 12.19 Royal Irish Yacht Club

As it is, the race received a boost with the confirmation that former winner Michael Boyd and ex-RORC Commodore is back on the line with Michael O’Donnell’s J/121 Darkwoood (RIYC), and that France’s Eric de Turckheim – a previous front runner with his Archambault 13 Teasing Machine – has now entered his 2020-built 16.4 metre NMYD 54 of the same name. 

In a different line of thinking, the Maybird Mast Trophy (in honour of Darryl Hughes’ 2016 circuiteer Maybird, built Tyrrell’s of Arklow in 1937), is now up for competition for the oldest boat to complete the course, and on the present listings it looks as though it will be contested between two Sparkman & Stephens classics, Tony Kingston’s immaculate Swan 40 Shindig from Kinsale, and Hiro Maru (Hiroshi Nakajima) from the US, with others such as Ian Hickey’s Granada 38 Cavatina also in the mix.

Tony Kingston’s immaculately-restored vintage Swan 40 Shindig from Kinsale will be a contender for the Maybird Mast Trophy for the oldest finisher, and she’d also be in line for a Concours d’Elegance Trophy, if there was one. Photo: Robert Bateman

And we may see more Class40s confirming, now that the ten top boats in the class have completed the 15th May-started thousand mile Normandy Channel Race out of Caen, racing west and north to make their northerly turn at the Tuskar Rock. The ubiquitous Ian Lipinski sailing with Ambroggio Beccaria on Credit Mutuel won in the small hours of Friday (yesterday) by nine minutes from Corentin Doguet and Yoann Richomme (now there’s a useful name for a yottie) on Queguiner-Innoveo.

The start last Sunday (May 15th) of the 1,000 mile Normandy Channel Race from Caen round the Tuskar Rock and back, with Queguiner-Innoveo showing well. However, at yesterday (Friday’s) finish, she was beaten for first by nine minutes by Credit-Mutuel (Ian Lipinski & Ambroggio Becarria).

THE TUSKAR ROCK AS TURNING MARK?

Yeah, you read that right. Earlier this week the hottest Class40s in the world were using our very own Tuskar Rock as a turning mark. The tide-riven reef-bestrewn Tuskar Rock can be difficult enough to sail past at the best of times, so using it as a turning mark is definitely not for the faint-hearted. But as these guys then raced their super-powered machines round the even more tide-riven reef-bestrewn Channel Islands before heading on for the finish at Caen, they probably regard the Tuskar as a straightforward sort of brick, and thus their presence in the Round Ireland on June 18th would certainly add extra oomph to the lineup.

As it is, the thought of the Tuskar as a turning mark reminds us that by the time this is posted, at least some of the fleet in KYC’s Matthews-sponsored Inishtearacht Race will know what it is like to use the Blaskets’ only lighthouse for real, for in rounding they may well have left it to starboard - as per Race Instructions – in the dark.

Not only does this mean that if the wind has backed as much as some forecasts have been suggesting, they then may have the choice to leave the Blasket southerly outliers to starboard as they beat south to the next turn at Skellig Michael, but equally they’ll have learned that the west side of Inishtearacht is quite a messy place.

A turning mark for heroes – Inishtearacht in some classic Atlantic weather

GPS has of course taken much of the sting out of negotiating it, but nevertheless they’ll have raced between the Great Foze Rock and Inishtearacht, for the course instructions only say that the Tearacht Rocks close west of Inishtearacht have to be left to starboard. The Tearacht Rocks are not to be trifled with. When God made the Tearacht Rocks, he made them pointy. And the night after he’d finished and was resting, the Devil made them razor sharp.

All of which was well illustrated in the famous video of the MOD70 Phaedo establishing her anti-clockwise Round Ireland Record in 2016, when she sailed south between the Foze and Inishtearacht, with the glimpses of the Tearacht Rocks to port putting the heebie-jeebies on everyone.

It also raised the delicate matter of whether or not Phaedo had actually sailed round Ireland at all, as until then we’d thought the Great Foze Rock was ours. But Phaedo’s crew claimed that the Foze was not mentioned as part of the course by the Round Ireland Record Keepers. Nevertheless it was a problem, but we solved it here at Afloat.ie on April 1st 2017 by announcing that the Great Foze Rock had been ceded to Portugal, it was re-named Grande Ilheu de Foze in the process, and was now officially part of the Azores Archipelago.

Enough of frivolity. The Inishtearacht Race is a demanding course, the weather to the southwest of Ireland has been quite rough of late and continues to be volatile, and predictions of finishing times are anybody’s guess. Who knows, but we might end up with Irish offshore racing’s first Prize-Giving Brunch…

For most of us, the pandemic has been a matter of two years in limbo. And it maybe isn’t over yet, even if everyone is behaving as though we’re well into the end game. But for gallant little Wicklow Sailing Club, the reality is that it has been more like four years in limbo. The club may have a thriving local, junior and disabled sailing programme which has continued when permitted with social-distancing. But for the world at large, Wicklow Sailing Club is the focal point of the biennial Round Ireland Race, and the last one was way back in 2018, won by Niall Dowling (RIYC) with the Ker 43 Baraka GP.

It’s an event that is a major international offshore racing highlight, while being a colourful and very convivial local festival at the same time. For Wicklow SC is very much part of its community, and on Thursday the Club won the “Best Float” prize in the town’s St Patrick’s Day Parade, with Ken Glover, Patrick Billington and Karen Kissane leading the team with a special display effort which was based around the communal re-building of the club launch.

If there’s another Irish sailing club that won a similar honour on St Patrick’s Day, we’ve yet to hear of it. But this friendly and popular success is typical of Wicklow SC’s dynamic interaction with the town, and beyond that with Wicklow County Council.

Wicklow SC winning float for Thursday’s St Patrick’s Day Parade in the town

“Best in Show” – WSC’s Thursday prize

It’s this second element that puts its major offshore Round Ireland event into a different context from happenings like the Fastnet Race and the Middle Sea Race, where shoreside activity can be minimized. That’s just not possible in Wicklow’s relationship with the Round Ireland. And thus Commodore Kyran O’Grady (who has agreed to serve a second two year term) and Race Organiser Hal Fitzgerald and their members have had to face what eventually became – after hope-inducing postponements for the eventually cancelled 2020 event – a very subdued existence on the international front. Nevertheless, it had the useful purpose of underlining just what a key role this great sailing circuit of our island home plays in national maritime life.

Race Organiser Hal Fitzgerald (left) and WSC Commodore Kyran O’Grady – both have extended their periods in office to move the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race successfully through its 2020 hiatus.

So much so, in fact, that ideally it would be sailed during St Patrick’s Week. But as it would be crazy to stage such an Atlantic-challenging venture during mid-March, we’ll nevertheless go along with the idea that the now-traditional round Ireland circuit starting from Wicklow in the mid-summer weekend is the sailor’s version of the St Patrick’s Parade.

For those who would dispute this, we can argue that the realities of St Patrick can surely be adjusted to suit the needs of the moment. After all, according to The Annals of the Four Masters, when he died on March 17th in 460AD, St Patrick was 122 years old. Would it be too much to ask that this be adjusted by a few months to take us into summer. In fact, come to think of it, if we made St Patrick’s Day July 12th, it would provide summer conditions to cover all parade requirements - north and south - for the entire year.

The ultimate leaderboard for sailing in Ireland – even without a race in 2020, it’s a formidable list going back more than forty years

When the Four Masters were agreeing the date of his death, they’d no thought of March’s cold and windy weather making O’Connell Street in Dublin a sea of hypothermic drum majorettes during the annual St Patrick’s Day Parade. In fact, they’d no thoughts of Parades at all, for it was 541 years after the supposed death date of the great holy man that the first St Patrick’s Day Parade was staged. And as it took place in the very balmy Spring weather of Florida on March 17th 1601, nobody realized that repeating the exercise in due course back home in Ireland might result in discomfort for participants and spectators alike.

That said, the story on the first St Patrick’s Day has to be taken with a very large pinch of salt, and perhaps much more exotic substances were involved in its creation. For the word is that around 1601, the Vicar to the growing Spanish colony in St Augustine in what became Florida was Irish, one Father Richard Arthur. And it was he who had the idea of celebrating St Patrick’s Day with a parade to remind his Spanish congregation that other people shared their religion, and had their own saints who equally deserved celebration.

Defending champion. 2018 winner, the Ker 43 Baraka GP (Niall Dowling) sweeps past Wicklow Head. Photo: Afloat.ie

The 2018 Race involved some tactically challenging windward work off the west coast – it’s intriguing to note that off the north coast of Mayo, the eventual runaway winner Baraka GP was lying 23rd on corrected time.

March in Florida is grand for parades and for sailing too, but historically the only significant maritime connection anywhere with St Patrick’s Day is in the general acceptance that it was on March 17th, with rain drumming down, that Noah’s Ark finally had enough floodwater around it to float for the first time and start the voyage to Mount Ararat.

But maybe we’ve paraded down this fantasy route for long enough, so apart from being happy to agree that Saturday, June 18th 2022 will be recognized as St Patrick’s Maritime Day for the start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race at Wicklow, let’s get real by seeing who has already stepped up to the plate, even if the Early Bird Entries don’t close until March 31st, while the final date is May 31st.

As of yesterday, there were already 18 paid-up runners, and you can study them in more detail here

As ever, the preliminary list reminds us that, ever since its foundation 42 years ago, the Round Ireland Race participation has built up its own community within the sailing community. And with Grzegorz Kalinecki’s little First 310 More Mischief from Dun Laoghaire in there at Number One and Ian Hickey’s Granada 38 Cavatina from Cork in at Number 2 while Chris Power Smith’s J/122 Aurelia is Number 3, the Round Ireland racing committed community is as strong as ever, with Cavatina in a special role, as she has won it twice – in 2002 and 2006 – and been in the frame on other occasions.

Cavatina for ever….! Ian Hickey’s successful veteran, the Cork-based 38-footer Cavatina, is already entered for the 2022 race

The show goes on….Kyran O’Grady with Barry Kilcline of sponsors SSE Renewables

Interestingly enough, the two most recent winners – George David’s Rambler 88 in 2016 and Niall Dowling’s Baraka GP in 2018 – also took mono-hull line honours, with Rambler 88 being something particularly special. After he and his crew - including his future wife Wendy - were rescued by the Baltimore maritime community when the keel snapped off his Rambler 100 at the Fastnet Rock during the Fastnet Race of 2011, he promised that in due course he would return to Ireland and do the Round Ireland as a gesture of appreciation.

In 2016, Rambler 88 was ready and waiting, and so too was the weather – she went round so quickly that she took monohull line honours in what is surely an unbeatable time, a time so extraordinary that despite her great size and stratospheric rating, she won on IRC as well.

A promise well rewarded – George David’s 2011 promise to do the Round Ireland Race was amply rewarded in 2016 when Rambler 88 - seen here at Wicklow Head shortly after the start – went on to win every which way. Photo: WSC

Going further down the list, Entry Number 4 has special interest, as seasoned Wexford campaigner Keith Miller of Kilmore Quay has moved on from his Yamaha 36 cruiser-racer Andante to the more race-oriented Prime Suspect, a Mills 36 of 1999 vintage whose design was created just up the road from Wicklow in Mark Mills’ high tech naval architectural studio.

The rapidly-growing and very developmental Class40 has made the Round Ireland one of its highlight events, and already one of the latest designs is into the fray with Italian skipper Andrea Fornaro’s latest VPLP boat, Influence – there are links here to Round Ireland Two-Handed record holder Pam Lee of Greystones, who rounded out her 2021 season in Europe by winning the two-handed Round Italy Race as co-skipper with Fornaro on a Figaro 3.

Coming home? The Mills 36 Prime Suspect, newly-acquired by Keith Miller of Wexford, was designed in County Wicklow by Mark Mills

Thus at mid-March, we’re already looking at the makings of a healthy lineup on June 18th, with 2012 line honours winner Green Dragon (Enda O Coineen & Conor Ferguson) coming back for more, and interest being heightened by the fact that there’s a classy Volvo car up for grabs.

Back in the day when Volvo sponsored the race, they put up a new car as a prize for the best performer over three consecutive races. It should have been done and dusted in 2020, but now we’re seeing it spread over eight years, so it will be intriguing to see what successful veterans are tempted out of the woodwork for a nice set of new electric-powered wheels.

Meanwhile, we conclude with the notion that the first round Ireland race – a one boat event – may indeed have started on March 17th. For in his voyaging with the Ark, Noah sailed round a tiny island which he deduced to be the peak of Carrantuohill, the only part of Ireland still above water.

Thus in rounding it before heading back east, he sailed round Ireland. And he knew it was Carrantuohill because there was a Kerry man on top of it. Upon the captain of the Ark complaining of the awfulness of the endless rain, the peak-top man proved his Kerry credentials by robustly responding:

“ Rain? ’Tis only a shower”

With entries scheduled to open on January 24 2022, the first formal document for the 2022 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race has been taken with the publication of the Notice Of Race document (downloadable below) by Wicklow Sailing Club organisers.

The Notice of Race for the June 18 event sets out the classes to race, the handicap and rating system that will be used and the classes to which it will apply, along with any recent changes to offshore regulations of which there have been some material changes as noted here.

The Irish offshore classic is the second-longest race in the Royal Ocean Racing Club calendar first race took place in 1980 with only thirteen boats. Since then, held biennially, the fleet has grown steadily, attracting a record 64 entrants from all over the world.

A Mod 70 trimaran competing in the Round Ireland Race Photo: Afloat

There are several classes in IRC in which boats and their crews can compete, including IRC 1 – 4, Z class, ISORA, a 'Two-handed Class' and a Team Prize. The 2016 race saw the introduction of multihulls sailing under MOCRA rules. The 2018 race saw the introduction of a new Class40 category.

In the past, boats competing have ranged from a 98-footer former "round the world" maxi to club boats one third the size, with all sizes in between.

As Afloat reported earlier, an international fleet is eyeing the Round Ireland Race. It has also made the Class40 Calendar thanks to the pioneering efforts of race organiser Kyran O'Grady who has been promoting the race in France.

Wicklow Sailing Club was in France earlier this month to promote June's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race.

Wicklow Commodore Kyran O'Grady was welcomed by The Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL) President Anne de Bagneaux-Savatier to speak to the French yacht club's annual conference at the Paris Boat Show.

UNCL is the yacht club that created the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) - the IRC rule, the critical measured handicap rule, used on the most competitive and prestigious sailing events, such as the Fastnet Giraglia, Sydney-Hobart and the Round Ireland Race.

The Wicklow invitation marked a significant milestone for both clubs as the UNCL was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary and WSC its 21st Round Ireland Race in 2022. 

Thanks to Wicklow promotional efforts, the 704-mile Irish offshore race is now a race on the UNCL calendar for both double-handed and fully crewed yachts.

The Irish classic is also part of the RORC series and the Class40 series.

Wicklow Sailing Club's Kyran O'Grady and Denise Cummins at the UNCL Conference in Paris to promote the Round Ireland Race 2022

As previously reported, after cancelling the 2020 race due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2022 edition is being planned with relevant precautions in place to ensure a safe experience.

"We were anticipating a fleet of close to 80 boats when we had to cancel our 2020 plans," said O'Grady. "Now that we are learning how to live with Covid-19, there is pent-up demand on top of a surge of interest in offshore racing, so a strong turn-out is on the cards."

The official Notice of Race document will be published shortly.

The 2022 SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race starts from Wicklow on June 18. Photo: Afloat.

“What would The Doyler do?” That was the question we asked here when writing with resigned sadness on 11th April about the pandemic-induced two-month postponement - from 20th June - of the Wicklow start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020. At that time, some optimism still prevailed, and the majority of us really did hope and expect that the race would start on August 22nd, the question only was how on earth everyone would fit the new date into their beloved hyper-busy schedules.

It seemed a big quandary at the time, so we referred back to our moral compass, the great Denis Doyle of Cork. He may have died all of 19 years ago, shortly after completing his last Fastnet Race at the age of 81 with his beloved Crosshaven-built Frers 51 Moonduster. But his approach to life and sailing and business was a guiding star for all who knew him, or knew of him, and in those harsh circumstances of postponement, we reckoned he would have quietly re-prioritised his events for 2020, and Moonduster would have been there in Wicklow, ready to race on 22nd August

For in Irish sailing at national and international level, Denis Doyle’s most telling single gesture – among many actions whose moral and historical significances have come to be better appreciated with every passing year – was quietly arriving into Wicklow with Moonduster three days before the start of the second Round Ireland Race in 1982, and setting up base with his hugely supportive wife Mary in a nearby B&B in a positive indication of his recognition that the Round Ireland Race was a thoroughly good idea, indeed it was a great idea, and it was Wicklow’s own idea and character to doggedly persist at grass roots level with the concept after other grander places and organisations with vaguely similar notions had fallen by the wayside.

Another great owner-skipper who kept his word to Wicklow. After George David was rescued from the suddenly un-keeled Rambler 100 by the Baltimore Lifeboat in the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011, among many things he did in thanks was to state that, as soon as possible, he would bring his new super-boat to do the Round Ireland Race. Rambler 88 turned up as promised in June 2016 at Wicklow, and it was worth it just to see her fantastic start, somehow finding a gap through a clutter of smaller craft. As a bonus, she won overall and set a mono-hull course record which has stood ever since. Photo: W M Nixon

Although Denis was Cork city and the Port of Cork through-and-through, he had a clear perception of just how important it was for smaller places to be closely associated with special happenings. Even in all the pomp and glitter of Cowes Week, from his early visits he appreciated that behind it there was a small and not very prosperous town which was heavily reliant on income from sailing visitors in what was then a relatively short season.

Thus he made a point of ensuring that, when racing Cowes Week prior to the Fastnet or the post-Cowes Week long RORC Race in non-Fastnet years, he and his crew spent well and wisely to the greater benefit of the Cowes economy. This is something which was brought home to me a long time ago when I happened to meet Denis and Mary’s regular B&B landlady in Cowes, and she firmly stated that if there were more people like Denis and Mary Doyle and the crew of Moonduster taking part in Cowes Week, then the town would be a much better place.

This awareness of the benefits of the Doyle Seal of Approval was likewise appreciated as it developed over the years from 1982 in Wicklow. It has been said that in the final analysis in anything, the most important thing is simply to turn up, and over the years Denis Doyle and Moonduster simply turned up in an elegant act of doing good work by stealth, and the race organisation group in Wicklow who kept the round Ireland show on the road were profoundly appreciative of his support.

Denis Doyle was a man of few words, but they were all pure gold.

So in reflecting on what the Doyler would do when faced with Monday night’s unprecedented cancellation of the race in advance of its 21st staging at its 40th anniversary, those of us who were fortunate enough to know Denis Doyle know exactly how he would have reacted. He would have told Wicklow Sailing Club to retain his 2020 entry fee, and set it against his 2022 entry. For Denis Doyle was a man who could implement quick decisions while still taking the long view.

Although very much a man of action and little-known good deeds who said no more words than were necessary, he had extensive experience of all forms of sailing. When he settled on offshore racing as his central focus, it reinforced his international outlook in a way which gave him a special overview of the scene in Ireland, and he was quietly aware that the Round Ireland race is more than just a great sporting event – it is in a sense an act of worship, almost a sacrament, a peaceful acknowledgement of the shared nature of our diverse identity and the special qualities of our island home.

But now for 2020 at least, this special race is gone, cancelled, unavailable - as are most other pillar events. Indeed, in looking back at those events which have taken place, and looking forward to those which might take place, we should count ourselves lucky that there have been some relatively small sailing happenings which have managed to take place without – so far – any reported related spiking of the COVID-19 figures.

A steadying rock for us all in these uncertain times – the unique Fastnet Rock is a symbolically-important turning point for this weekend’s race from Kinsale. Photo: Robert Bateman

Yet Thursday’s very worrying significant national increase of the new infection figures must give us pause for thought. The experts will need more detailed analysis, but the message seems to be that when restrictions are eased beyond a certain point, or people simply flout safety requirements out of frustration and boredom, then the figures after a certain time remorselessly rise.

The more thoughtful among sailing administrators will have noted this, and while the Royal Cork YC under the calm and competent leadership of Admiral Colin Morehead has emerged with just the right level of carefully-monitored club sailing and racing to begin recovery from the enormous communal shock of having to cancel the significantly international parts of the Royal Cork Tricentenary celebrations, the programme for August is quite ambitious, with the Optimist Nationals at mid-month a major happening, and detailed health safety provisions a priority as everyone realizes that the more friendly and familiar a crowd, then the greater its hazards despite the best social distancing efforts.

Small is Safe 

So whether we like it or not, the mousy little slogan SMALL IS SAFE seems to be our mantra for the time being. Last night’s (Friday) special offshore race from Kinsale round the Fastnet and back attracted 12 starters at the time of writing, and there may have been more when the start was signalled. But at the risk of seeming wimpish, it could be said that for now a dozen boats in an offshore race is just right, it’s a manageable group at race’s end in current circumstances.

And if it comes to other pop-up events coming up on the radar through August, such as a long race from Dublin Bay round the Fastnet to Cork for the RCYC At Home, then there’s certainly nothing so effective as setting an entry limit to attract participants……

Among the other events which have gone by the board is the Glandore Classics Regatta 2020. Normally an event of infinite possibilities, in 2003 it enabled the 1898 Howth 17 Leila (Roddy Cooper) to round the Fastnet Rock. In Glandore, Leila was a classic among classics – she was already six years old when the Fastnet light became operational in 1904. Photo: W M Nixon

The Fastnet race from Kinsale is enough to be going along with for the minute, what with the special symbolism of its turning mark, and the fact of it happening gives us an opportunity to use yet again this marvellous vid of Cian McCarthy’s new Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl being blasted along with Mark Mansfield on the helm, a boat we’ve drooled over since seeing her unveiled at MGM Boats in Dun Laoghaire way back in pre-history, which is what 6th March now feels like.

Back then, we were talking about this boat being just the job to make Irish sailing fun again. Fun is not something we’ve had much of since, and as for sailing, it has been in decidedly bite-size chunks taken from carefully-controlled portions. You can understand why some people simply can’t be bothered to commission their boats at all, claiming that sailing with so many restrictions in place, and the risk of further lockdowns imminent at any time, is just not free sailing as they know and love it, it’s just – so they say – not worth the hassle.

(Above) Dry sailing, not…..Olympian Mark Mansfield revelling in speed with Cian McCarthy’s new Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl, which is making her competitive offshore debut in the Kinsale-Fastnet-Kinsale race

Maybe it’s simply not worth the hassle for some. But those who do make the effort have been richly rewarded with their sport, and we can be sure that Denis Doyle and Moonduster would be out and about and sailing, making the best of what’s available and permissible, and doing it without a word of complaint.

Irish offshore sailors Conor Fogerty and Susan Glenny have announced their two-handed entry into next month's SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race from Wicklow.

The 704 nautical mile Round Ireland was postponed in June due to COVID-19 and is now scheduled to go ahead in August.

As Afloat has previously reported, Fogerty and Glenny have been sailing together since 2018 and this will be their second joint entry to the Round Ireland Race.

Last year it was announced that mixed pairs offshore keelboat racing would be a new class at the Paris 2024 Olympics and from its inception, the pair have expressed their intention to qualify to represent Ireland in 2024.

For August 22nd's Round Ireland Race, the duo will race aboard their state of the art foiling Beneteau Figaro 3 race yacht named “Total Produce” for the circumnavigation.

The 35-foot yacht was the first IRC foiling boat in Ireland and is one of a selection of yachts shortlisted for the 2024 Olympic event.

Conor Fogerty and Susan Glenny - Round Ireland Race entry in the doublehanded class

 It’s fantastic to be competing again in the Round Ireland Race after everything that has happened this year. We are delighted to have the support from Total Produce”, says Glenny.

“The Round Ireland Race is one of Ireland’s premier sailing events and like many sporting events, it has been unclear if it would be able to go ahead this year. Hopefully, the restarting of key sporting events will give confidence to community’s that we are moving towards a more normal way of life again.” Fogerty said.

Vincent Dolan, Group Marketing Mánager, of Total Produce said he wishes Conor and Susan the best of luck with race and "he will be keeping track on their progress.”

Fogerty from Howth was Afloat Sailor of the year in 2017 and Glenny is the highest-scoring female skipper in the RORC global offshore sailing series 2019. Between them, they have sailed 35 transatlantic crossings.

With just four weeks to go to the proposed re-scheduled start of the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2020 on August 22nd, the word is that a final decision as to whether it is going ahead – and indeed, if it is still going ahead, then in what form – will be given next Monday, July 27th.

Most of those who have the resources, experience and energy to mount a practicable Round Ireland campaign will themselves be either sailing professionals with a realistic sense of how difficult it is to put an event of this complexity together while complying with Pandemic regulations which are mainly aimed at shoreside circumstances which cover the entire population, or else they will be successful business entrepreneurs who function all the time in a challenging and changing environment.

Either way, they will be well aware of the difficulties faced by those running an event which, while it may have been first sailed forty years ago and is being staged for the 21st time this year, is in effect a one-off happening each time round, with an in-built requirement to bring a wide-ranging selection of stakeholders along in concert with the organisers to fit in with the circumstances of the time, which are difficult in coronavirus-haunted 2020.

One of the most recent entries for the Round Ireland is Christopher Opielok’s Class 40 RockallC40 from Germany, a sister-ship of the Mach 3 Corum, seen here with Ian Lipinsky on the strength as she breaks clear to lee of Eric de Turkheim’s Teasing Machine at the start of the 2018 Round Ireland. Photo: W M Nixon

The key organisers in 2020 - Wicklow SC Commodore Kyran O’Grady with former commodore Hal Fitzgerald as Race Director - are dealing with a situation in which they are not only facing a non-level playing field, but the angle of pitch’s inclination is changing constantly, and for good measure it feels as though the goalposts are being moved all the time as regulations as to who and from what country can and cannot visit Ireland without needing quarantine seem to acquire different interpretations, depending on which official agency you most recently consulted.

The Ker 43 Baraka GP (Niall Dowling RIYC) making fast progress towards Wicklow Head in 2018, when she took line honours and won overall. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

With its traditional mixture of a week-long shoreside Maritime Festival in Wicklow town in advance of the race, coupled with the need for a fleet of 50-plus boats –some of them quite large ones - to be RORC-scrutinized beforehand, there are social distancing infringements possible at every stage. All of this is allied to the extraordinary crowding of the town on start day, with its harbour area and the coast nearby packed with spectators to create a nightmare situation for infection control, even if the worst of the current outbreak can be shown to have long passed in Ireland by August 22nd.

It is of course perfectly feasible to dictate viable shoreside controls and starting arrangements which would by-pass all this. But then, the resulting event and lack of a sense of occasion ashore would be at variance with the mythology and spirit of this race. Yet most sailors would be prepared to accept this. But inevitably, no matter what way a race is run in today’s special circumstances, the potential for friction with the non-sailing people of Wicklow town is a real cause for concern.

With a strong fair wind and a sluicing favourable ebb tide, the 2018 start had its moments of drama. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

The current reality for sailing in merging from COVID-19 is that the more run-of-the-mill, sea-oriented and non-spectator-related your event is, the more likely it is that you can resume something approaching your normal sailing programme while still being regulation-compliant.

Ordinary club racing – and the more ordinary the better – ticks all the boxes. It’s a closed world almost entire unto itself. And it’s an activity which reaches its apotheosis in the Thursday night cruiser-racing in Dublin Bay, a specific nautical-and-neighbourhood phenomenon which some day will surely merit a proper sports sociology study.

Thus this week it mustered 112 boats, which is near enough a thousand sailors. Yet despite the numbers, it was broadly regulation-compliant. But as for attracting vast crowds of closely inter-acting infective droplet-spreading spectators – forget about it. People go down Dun Laoghaire pier on a pleasant Thursday evening for walks of varying energy levels, and if the sunlit sails of yachts add to the attraction of the scene, that’s fine and dandy.

The veteran Granada 38 Cavatina from Cork has twice won overall for owners Eric Lisson and Ian Hickey, with Dave Hennessy aboard on both occasions. Photo Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

But very few would go down to actually watch yachts race, for of course, that’s something best done while actually taking part in the race yourself, as it gives it much more meaning, whereas those strolling down the pier have better things to do, such as agreeing who is to put the bins out in the morning.

At a different level of sailing organisation, the nimbleness of the Irish Sea Offshore Racing Association in working around the Lockdown requirements has been praised here in Afloat.ie several times, and this past week the YellowBrick tracker people piled in with their support on Twitter.

#ISORA are well & truly been back in the water with a host of races for summer 2020! We're proud to be tracking partners for their exciting list of races with #racetracking screens here: https://t.co/F6Oa16Ao7o #sailsafe #dublinbay #boats #yachtracing #CoastalSeries #IrishSailing pic.twitter.com/Qp96pMwJ2O

— YB Tracking (@ybtracking) July 21, 2020

In effect in 2020, the ISORA programme is shaping up to be like virtual sailing, except that those little boaty shapes moving across the screen are real boats. It’s just that after the tracked finish, they don’t do traditional offshore-racing boaty things like heading straight for the berth nearest yacht club bar - on the contrary, they head for their compliant home berth, even if it involves sailing back across the Channel.

The JPK 10.80 Rockabill VI (Paul O’Higgins, RIYC, right) is current ISORA and Dun Laoghaire-Dingle Champion, and in August she hopes to add the Round Ireland title to her trophy list. On Thursday evening, she was a class winner in the DBSC’s big turnout weekly cruiser-racer event. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

Admittedly ISORA has started 2020’s shortened season modestly enough with coastal races for their Irish fleet run on this side of the Channel, with an overnight Dun Laoghaire to Dun Laoghaire starting last night (Friday). But things step up on the 8th August with the Dun Laoghaire-Pwllheli Race which, if all the ducks are in a row, will lead into the Welsh IRC Championship when fleets on the other side can start to build up their points total.

Keith Miller’s veteran family-raced Yamaha 36 Andante from Kilmore Quay in Wexford has been re-rigged and fitted with new UK Crosshaven sails in anticipation of this year’s Round Ireland Race. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

The trans-national functioning of ISORA involves a useful mixture of very sharp minds together with more emollient folk who are able to get things done, and the Association’s Back to Boating Protocol – published on 10th July and mainly compiled by ISORA Hon. Sec. Stephen Tudor of Pwllheli – is an educational indication of just how determined the really keen sailing people are to get their sport back up and running, within the limits set by people who know little or nothing of the world of boats and the people who sail them. You can download the protocol below as a PDF document.

In fact, for those of us who are in sailing but perhaps have an overly relaxed attitude towards it, a look at the ISORA Protocol here is a reminder of how much has been put in place over the years to make our sport so attractive in normal times:

A programme for safe sailing in the time of COVID-19 – the ISORA Protocol  - download the full protocol below

After the mental miasma of months of Lockdown, people are extremely keen to do the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race. So much so that, for instance, those involved with the Darren Wright (HYC) charter of the Lombard 45 Pata Negra have been actively looking at the possibility of bringing the boat to Ireland from the Solent a fortnight in advance of the race to comply with quarantine regulations, should it be necessary.

On the other hand, boats with “alien” status may find their needs met by going to Holyhead or Pwllheli for pre-race prep, and then simply sailing across channel to the start without going anywhere near an Irish quayside or pontoon berth.

The J/122 Aurelia (Chris & Patanne Power-Smith, RStGYC) at the start of the 2018 race, when they finished third overall. In 2020 they hope to improve on that. Photo: Afloat.ie/David O’Brien

In all, fifty boats are currently entered, all of them good ones, and we’ve shown some in the photo line-up. Particularly interesting in the list is one of the most recent, Christopher Opielok’s Class 40 RockallC40 from Germany, which is a Class 40 sister-ship of Corum from France, a star in the 2018 race with the noted talent of Ian Lipinsky on board. The new boat is named Rockall in line with a family tradition, Rockall III having been the former Rosy, the Corby 36 which was the successful swansong boat of the late Roy Dickson in his long and distinguished offshore racing career.

In many parts of Europe, and particularly in France, there are Class 40 boats just itching for a major race, and they hope the Round Ireland will be it. But if it is not to be, then it’s perfectly possible that the Class 40 boats will give themselves a round Ireland race. But it will start and finish in France, and Ireland will be no more than the marks of the course.

Let us hope it doesn’t come to that. On the plus side, we note that as sailing gradually resumes, there has been no report whatsoever of one of the new COVID clusters being associated with some sailing event. On the contrary, the sailing community are generally a healthy bunch who have accepted the severe limitations on their sport in the interests of protecting much more vulnerable cohorts of society.

A pair of Class 40s looking deceptively peaceful, berthed outside Eric de Turkheim’s A13 Teasing Machine in Wicklow Harbour before the start in 2018. In 2020, Class 40 will be a special feature. Photo: Afloat.ie/David OBrien

As they have been prepared to do that, they will, in turn, be prepared to sail a Round Ireland Race even if starts with a very diminished sense of occasion, for as the race progresses, the very grandeur of the course will give the event its proper status.

It is likely that over the weekend, the race organisers will continue widespread consultations, and those consulted will, of course, include the entrants. Of all people, they will most readily understand the quandary that Wicklow Sailing Club and their sponsors and fellow stakeholders face. Nevertheless, the feeling in the sailing community, particularly as they increasingly enjoy the health benefits which the gradual resumption of sailing is bringing, is that a Round Ireland Race in the age of YellowBrick is very do-able, even within strict shoreside limits.

And with sixteen high-powered overseas entries to balance the thirty-six from the home fleet, the high regard in which the Round Ireland is held internationally is clearly evident.

Looking ahead to next month's Round Ireland Yacht Race, last weekend's French Drheam Cup that proved so successful for Tom Dolan in the Figaro Duo class also provided offshore pundits with plenty of results to pore over.

The Cherbourg fixture, the first major French sailing event of this COVID hit season, was a winning one for Ian Lipinski, a host nation competitor who also has ties to Ireland as a 2018 Round Ireland Race competitor in the Class 40, Corum.

The Drheam Cup's two-handed IRC class has dished up some results that may provide some insights for next month's Irish 700-miler.

For example, the top five boats in the 400-mile Drheam two-hander class all crossed the finish line within seven minutes of each other in the 26-boat fleet.

Three of the Top five were JPK designed boats and two were the New Sunfast 3300 designs, the same as Cian McCarthy's Cinnamon Girl from Kinsale, that will be racing fully crewed in Round Ireland and was captured at full speed below and here three weeks ago.

The Doublehanded IRC class overall winner was Xpresso a JPK 10.30, which was just 17 seconds ahead on corrected from the Sunfast 3300 Gentoo. This will be a feather in the cap of Jeanneau's designers, who came to the Royal Irish Yacht Club for the unveiling of the Cinnamon Girl, as Afloat's WM Nixon's described here.

Another Sunfast 3300, Leyton was third, a JPK 10.30 was fourth, and in Fifth was a JPK 10.80, Raging Bee, (similar to Irish yacht of the year, Rockabill VI).

When the then-new Lombard 45 Pata Negra was racing with a Dutch charter crew in the 2017 Rolex Fastnet Race and carving her way through the fleet with style and winning speed, Howth YC’s offshore team manager Kieran Jameson was closely monitoring her progress.

By the time she finished at Plymouth well in the frame, he had Pata Negra chartered for the up-coming February 2018 RORC Caribbean 600, with it all neatly zipped-up for serial international offshore campaigners Michael and Darren Wright of HYC. It was a shrewd move – by sealing his deal before the boat finished, it emerged that Jameson had got in ahead of nine other keen bidders.

In that Caribbean 600, Pata Negra with the Howth crew had a scorcher of a race, and despite multiple Code Zero damages in one of the toughest race yet sailed around the island course, she placed third in class. The Wright/Jameson team then took a break from the Northern hemisphere to campaign a First 40 with success in the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race 2019, which was Howth all the way with Gordon Maguire winning overall in Ichi Ban. But now with life returning to something vaguely like normal for the time being (or as normal as it can be with coronavirus still not completely nailed), a long-held notion that Pata Negra would make an interesting challenger for the Round Ireland has re-emerged, and Pata Negra (Darren Wright, Howth YC) is entry No 51 in the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race 2020 from Wicklow on August 22nd.

Read all the latest news on the build-up to next month's race in Afloat's dedicated SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race section